Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ tops NME’s list of 500 greatest songs of all time

Nirvana‘s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ has been named as the greatest song of all time by NME.

A list of the 500 greatest songs of all time is published in this week’s magazine, which is available digitally or on newsstands today (February 5). The full rundown will also be revealed daily on NME.COM, beginning with today’s list of 500 to 401.

‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was one of the last songs written for Nirvana’s breakthrough album, ‘Nevermind’, which was released on September 23, 1991. Lauded as “a shock to the system” by NME’s reviewer at the time, when it was released as a single it reached Number Seven in the UK charts. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain quickly grew tired of the track. “I can see it’s a good record from a commercial point of view but it’s too slick for my tastes,” he said in 1993. You can see the video below.

Voted for by NME journalists past and present, each individual was asked to submit a list of their top 50 songs. These were combined with lists of NME’s Top 50 tracks of the year to create the definitive list of 500 essential songs published in the magazine.

In a companion list published in October 2013, NME named The Smiths’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’ the greatest album of all time. Check out the full list beginning here